Bringing an almost 700lb. marlin to the boat is a tough chore even when you're young, but whipping a 700lb. marlin when you're an 85-year-old great-grandmother? Best just to put a lid on those Geritol and prune whip jokes, or this granny might just school your whippersnapper butt. She's the same age as the Queen, but might be just a little bit stronger after hauling in a marlin weighing more than one third of a ton. Great grandmother Connie Laurie, 85, has been fishing for most of her life but she's never caught anything as big as the marlin she hooked from a boat off the north Queensland coast.

Experienced fishermen have been astonished at the elderly woman's ability to play the fish on her line and expertly haul it in to the boat, off Cooktown.I got lifted out of my seat twice as I was pulling it in, but I was able to get it right up to the back of the boat before we released it back into the sea,' Mrs Laurie said of her short but thrilling battle. Her remarkable day, which is now said to have gone down in Cooktown folklore, began when she landed a 12lb mackerel which she decided to use as bait for something bigger. And they don't come much bigger than the black marlin that Mrs Laurie hooked. 'It was just a magical sight to see this huge big fish jump out of the water - it fulfilled a dream,' she said. 'It's something I’ve wanted to do all my life, to go out and fish for something big.' With the fish released and on its way back into the deep, Mrs Laurie, who was on holiday from her home on the Queensland Gold Coast, returned to shore to a welcoming committee of locals, who had been told of her catch in a radio call from the boat's skipper.